Quotes/important words
Boy in the striped pajamas
Please explain (for each quote) – Why is it important? What does it add to the piece of literature? Why did it stand out to you? What does it foreshadow? What does it reveal?
“Heil Hitler (page 53)
This quote stuck out to me in so many ways and brought out memories. In the history books we learned about Adolf Hitler. Hitler represents hatred. Hatred not towards just Jews, but anyone who didn’t have blonde hair and blue eyes. But in this book this phrase represents more than the life of Adolf Hitler, it shows that the people behind the fence in the yard weren’t thought of as people they were thought of as experiments. I remember in the book, a few sentences before this quote Bruno asked his dad who the people were behind the fence. He told him that the people behind the fence were “Those people, they are not people at all, at least not in our definition of humans.” And when you add those two thoughts together about how his father thought of the Jews, and the way that every solider in Bruno’s family says Heil Hitler comes to a startling conclusion. Bruno’s family believes in anti-Semitism and he doesn’t know it. His father respects Hitler in a way that a maid respects their master and it seems like irony that they say Heil Hitler and live right next to a concentration camp. This quote is important because it shows the theme and what is to come in the near future of the story.
It’s going to be a great adventure
Page 2
In this paragraph Bruno’s mom tells him that they will have to move away from Berlin, and she uses this quote “It’s going to be a great adventure” to try to reassure a worried Bruno. This quote stuck out to me because of how it foreshadows the future. Bruno doesn’t know that the move is going to be one that is permanent and so when his mom told him it was going to be an adventure it told Bruno that the move would be long and hard, like a journey often is. It adds understanding for me. It is easier to understand how long the move was going to feel, and how it was going to have a lasting impact on Bruno when the mother uses the word adventure. Also, when you go on adventure you may not know how long you are going to be gone. Just like Bruno, who has no idea that for the foreseeable future means forever.
We have to make the best of a bad situation
Page 13
In life we have many good and bad things happen to us, but some things knock us over like a punch to the stomach. Your parents may separate, you may get in a car accident, or something else may happen that puts you in a bad situation. And sometimes, you just have to make the best of an awful situation. This quote stuck out to me because it not only applies to the story, but it applies to life in general. Bruno’s mom uses this quote to try and get Bruno to lighten up about the move and in turn gives wisdom to all of the readers. This is significant to the story because Bruno hates the new house. He thinks that the atmosphere around it feels cold and desolate and misses his old comfortable home.
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